As hundreds of students flow in and out of the HJF Learning Center on campus, the Spoonholder Café is open to serve them. Between classes a line of tired students and faculty stretches to the front doors, all waiting for their caffeine fix. After their coffee is brewed, many students choose to stick around the coffee bar to converse and accomplish paper work.

“I drink coffee so I can stay awake and do my capstone paper,” Diane said humorously. The amount of work she needs to accomplish daily can only be fulfilled by a steady flow of coffee. This usually draws her to a local Starbucks, or in this instance, The Spoonholder which serves Starbucks brand coffee.

Nguyen isn’t alone on using the caffeinated super drink as a productivity tool. Many students across campus admitted to using coffee to aid in homework completion.

According to Harry Lieberman, a research psychologist, who was quoted in a health article on CNN, saw that coffee aided just about any mental function.

“When you’re sleep-deprived and you take caffeine,” Lieberman said, “pretty much anything you measure will improve: reaction time, vigilance, attention, logical reasoning — most of the complex functions you associate with intelligence. And most Americans are sleep-deprived most of the time.”

Tony Patton, a Morningside Sophomore, knew these affects of coffee well and used them to his advantage recently. “I had a stats tests one morning, so I put four cups of coffee down and went to my test,” said Patton. The results of the test turned out well, which only reinforced his drinking habits.

A study conducted by ‘The Nutrition Journal’ seems to support this behavior, at least in moderation. Jen Saunders, a journalist for Our Everyday Life, writes, “John Wiley and Sons in “Human Psychopharmacology” concluded [from the study] that caffeine gave an advantage. The study indicated that higher levels of the stimulant in coffee showed increased levels of alertness and improved cognitive responses.”

Nguyen knows all too well what it’s like to rely on coffee for completing schoolwork like Patton. She finds herself pulling all-nighters occasionally to finish up assignments like research papers. She recalls staying up throughout the night recently to finish a paper that was assigned for one of her English classes. In order to get the paper done on the time, she saw no other option but to pour a cup of coffee and continue writing into the early hours of the morning.

“I will drink coffee at 3 or 4 in the morning just to stay awake,” Nguyen admits.

As for Patton, he isn’t afraid to make the coffee pot percolate either. “I’ve drank coffee at 1am before just because I wanted it.”

David Elder, an associate professor of writing and rhetoric, found himself in similar situations during grad school.

“I started drinking a lot of coffee [then] and I was super stressed out. I would wake up every morning with a stress headache. My breakfast would be Ibuprofen and a 12 cup pot of coffee. The detriment to that is stomach issues, I had the worst heartburn constantly. I got G.E.R.D. because of the coffee and I’m sure the Ibuprofen didn’t help.”

Elder carried his coffee habits into his professional career at Morningside, but was determined to become less reliant on it.

“I decided I needed to cut down. I only wanted two to three cups a day, but I made a whole pot in case anyone wanted some. So I was pretty much drinking two pots of coffee a day. So I got the KEURIG to help cut down on coffee consumption. I always buy the san Francisco bay pods because they are 97% biodegradable.”

What’s surprising, or maybe not so surprising, is this sort of behavior occurs across the board for college dwellers. Students in particular continue to see coffee as a simple substitution for sleep. Unfortunately, some don’t see this as beneficial to the body. An article written by University of California, Davis Campus graduate Justin Hong, uncovers a big reason why swapping coffee for sleep isn’t really beneficial.

“Consuming caffeine, we akin our bodies to batteries that can run longer with less time to charge. However, caffeine is not a substitute for the vital functions that sleep provides. Sleep is important for learning since information in short-term memory is moved to long-term memory during sleep. A lack of sleep also reduces metabolism and energy levels,” writes Hong.

Madison Reed, a freshman at Morningside, has seen some of the side effects that occur when coffee overtakes adequate sleep.

“I get jittery, my heart starts beating faster, I lose focus. As long as I don’t drink too much I’m ok, but it can affect me, Reed said. After becoming a regular coffee drinker, she has found it hard to quit. “If I don’t drink coffee I start to get headaches. I drink three or four cups of coffee a day.”

Regardless of the cons, students continue to drink on, finding other reasons to keep the coffee pot full.

“When you are first meeting a person or for job interviews, it’s a casual place to go. People say you learn a lot about someone by what coffee they order,” Nguyen tells optimistically. Nguyen recalls many times that her boss will buy her coffee to help her keep up the good work at her job with Hollister.

Elder agrees with Nguyen about coffee’s community qualities.

“It’s an easy place to congregate for a few different things. It makes first dates a little bit easier. When you’re working on homework late at night, it’s a good place to meet when you’re working with a group. It’s a good place to meet for faculty. It’s a central location and everyone can get the drink that they want.”

Because of this, coffee and their sellers won’t be leaving college campuses any time soon. It’s integrated into a vital function of the college community and will continue to be the heart of productivity and socializing for students and faculty far into the future.

I once took part in a one act play that required a small group of people to meet daily to rehearse. For a month straight we would meet every day to practice this play that was performed at the end of the month. Everyone involved was committed to their part and did all they could to make the production the best it could be.

That is, except for one person who was habitually late to EVERY meeting we had.

If we met outside of rehearsal to run lines: 15 minutes LATE.

A typical rehearsal on a weekday night: 30 minutes LATE.

Short break during rehearsal: 5 minutes LATE.

Every rehearsal started out on a negative tone because we sat there waiting for this girl. As the clock struck 7pm to start, I could feel each minute scrape across the clock as my life was thrown into the grave. Minutes would fly by, until the star finally decided to show ready to rehearse. Sorry, I was ready to rehearse ten minutes ago, now I’m pissed off.

Here’s a specific example. One night the actors and director were required to meet at the theatre at 5:30pm to block a few scenes. That specific afternoon I was attempting to finish up a few assignments, get a run in, and call my family to see how they were doing. Since I squeezed in everything I needed to do, I was only able to grab a bowl of cereal to eat before I rushed over to the theatre to be there before 5:30. I walked in at 5:28 to see that everyone was there… except Judy.

at 5:35pm , Judy responded to the director’s text asking where she was. She got caught up with her family, so she was going to be an hour and 15 minutes late to rehearsal (that hour and 15 actually ended up being an hour and half). The director, and everyone else, was pissed off and had to make up something to do while we waited for Judy to show up.

Not only did she not warn about being late until after we were all supposed to be there, she was insanely late! How can you be that late to something? I’m genuinely curious. At the time we didn’t know the reasoning, and I assumed maybe it was a family emergency. No, it was Judy being irresponsible.

What was even more tragic about the situation is that this person was likable and easy to get along with.

I get that we are all in college and still young, but time is running out buddy. In a couple of years you will be in the professional world and people lose their jobs for showing up late. Not only is the entertainment world extremely time oriented, all jobs are time oriented, and it’s just a general curtesy to not waste other’s time. We all have a life to get on with and we all have problems we are dealing with. Please don’t create another problem.

The idea of time management is pretty straight forward, but not many people get it. It’s something that is vital to almost any group activity. If you want to be late, be late to something that only involves yourself. If you make plans with someone, be ON TIME so that they don’t sit there wasting their time waiting for you.

As finals week approaches, students at Morningside college are beginning to feel the pressure. Projects, papers, and presentations are piling up as professors gauge what grade will be given to each student. Since there are only 24 hours in a day Coffee is by far the most popular energy drink of choice for college students looking to accomplish the impossible.

According to EurekAlert, a global source of science news, coffee is the number one source of antioxidants for Americans.

As hundreds of students flow in and out of the HJF Learning Center on campus, the Spoonholder Café stays open to serve them. In between classes, a line stretching to the front doors can be found as tired students await their morning caffeine fix. After the cafinated drinks are served to them, many students choose to stick around to enjoy their drink.

Coffee has been a casual drink for Nguyen, starting back in middle school, and became something to give her a boost throughout the day.

“I drink coffee so I can stay awake and do my capstone paper. When you are first meeting a person or for job interviews, coffee makes it’s a more casual place setting. People say you learn a lot about someone by what coffee they order.”

College and Coffee

Used to Stay Awake

Social Aspects

Health Pros and Cons

Interviewed: Diane, Tony, Maddie, and James

Still need to be Interviewed: David Elder, Jesus (Stone Bru barista), and Carol

Chuck Palahniuk, an author best known for fiction, took a dive into non-fiction with Stranger Than Fiction. Although it’s clear that this is non-fiction, the stories within are so bizarre that they could actually be fiction. He includes stories like his account of The Testicle Festival, a sex filled celebration in Montana. In contrast, Palahniuk writes of his personal adventures meeting with Film producers for his most famous work, Fight Club. This wide array of short stories constantly has the reader on their toes, until the book comes to a speedy end.

The book consists of three parts that have numerous short stories in each. Each part holds a different focus during the article. ‘People Together’ features large masses of people converging in some sort of festival, carnival, or event. The next section is called ‘Portraits’, which is devoted to discovering interesting people and what their lives entail. The book concludes with ‘Personal’, a section that digs in to the deeper, and sometimes darker side, of a person’s life.

That isn’t to say it’s not lacking in some ways. The book is a collection of short stories featuring many different people. If you are looking for consistency and sticking with characters for more than seven to ten pages, choose another Palahniuk book. The stories come to the reader quickly and they leave even faster, leaving you asking for more.

Palahniuk’s style of writing in Stranger Than Fiction is fairly unique. This book takes on a journalistic style of writing as it covers the various events in the book. There is description within the stories, but rather concise. Quotes from people fill each story as Palahniuk succeeds in capturing the essence of what is happening. Journalistic writing can be admirable for its’ ability to convey information quickly, but this does not work for some of these stories. Some of the stories included, such as Brinksmanship, could have easily been given more page space.

Putting aside the organizational aspects of the book, it’s the stories that make this read worthwhile. Consider the story titled ‘Escort’. The story follows a man who used to work as a male escort, and encountered a man who had lost his leg falling asleep next to a sauna heater. The escort decided one day to comfort a hospice patient and this is where the amputee lived. The man asks for the escort to take his sex toys out of his house before he died because he didn’t want his mother seeing them. The escort agreed and upon visiting the house had an epiphany. The moral of the story came at the end when the escort realized that he didn’t like the way he was living his life.

If a story with a moral doesn’t sound enticing, perhaps the story about hard work would. Palahniuk observed a USA Wrestling event in Waterloo, Iowa. The story spotlighted multiple wrestlers and coaches who described the dedication it takes to be a wrestler. Theme of hard work, loyalty, and suffering all come into play that bring the reader to a sense of inspiration. Palahniuk has a way of pulling out the soul from these people and capturing it in words that really makes the reader find a sense of understanding with the people being observed.

This book is not for someone not willing to witness some of the darker, but real, faces of life. Palahniuk doesn’t shy away from the bizarre, sexual, and sometimes violent stories throughout the book. Stranger than Fiction contains stories of Ghost hunts, orgies, coming out stories, and Marilyn Manson.

One of the most important parts in the entire book that stuck with me was Palahniuk’s introduction. Before the stories are even told, he shows the reader his grasp on life. He has such a unique stance on life that it creates the need to continue reading. After a thorough read through of his introduction, I was left with the feeling of excitement for what is to come. His introduction truly qualifies him to write about the stories that he witnesses.

A fiction writer covering non-fiction seems strange, but Palahniuk proves his capability. By the end the reader realizes that most fiction probably comes from non-fiction. There is a completely different world underneath the polished stones on the ground, and Palahniuk has found them. By the end of the book I was asking myself, “Was there ever really such a thing as a normal life?” Everyone has an unusual or different story to tell. Palahniuk proves it.

Overall, Stranger Than Fiction is worth the read. This book is recommended for anyone curious about those stories in life that are intriguing at its’ core. Every story within is interesting, and each story is completely different from the previous one. Palahniuk’s work may not be something worthy of your time if you’re not a fan of journalistic writing. I would also not recommend this to someone who is looking to invest his or her time in a single, lengthy storyline. This book consists of many small stories and breaks up the reading momentum.

All seemed to be calm in the quiet neighborhood positioned near the cross hairs of South Nicollet Street and Glenn Avenue one Saturday night. That is, except the small groups of drunken college students walking into a small white house overlooking the street corner. As the students enter through the rotting doorframe covered with a spot of paint here and there, a wall of blaring music, smoke, and a strong alcoholic odor hits the silence.

The number of people within the initial room grew by the minute, as James Oden, a senior at Morningside, was casually standing within the house. As we sat discussing this recent party scene in a much less dramatic setting, Oden described, in detail, how it looked.

“On a couch there were a few girls sitting, taking pictures on their phones, and sharing a large bottle of alcohol,” he says. Oden found them to be fairly attractive and so the detail of the event flowed effortlessly from the partier as he continued. “The dating scene is terrible at parties here to be honest. Everyone is standing around. Everyone is shoulder to shoulder. I try to talk to one of the girls and three other dudes, I guess, are talking to her too,” Oden adds with irritation building in his voice.

It turns out Oden actually knew this specific girl after matching with her on the dating app Tinder and messaging her. The two carried on a conversation throughout the week leading up to the party, but when it came for an actual physical interaction, neither knew how to interact person to person.

Sadly the decline and lack of communication in person has become the reality for many college students looking for relationships. What is known as one of the greatest creations in the world, social media causes a number of problems with young adults when it’s time for them to interact in the physical world. While many wonder how constant interaction can actually hinder communication among possible partners, students on campus can easily see why.

Dominique Swanson, a senior Corporate Communications major, sits nonchalantly in a booth observing the other students eating in the cafeteria while she sips on coffee. “I could write a book on today’s relationships,” Swanson comments to me immediately. She undoubtedly knows why college students lack relationship skills. In a discussion with Swanson she finds that many students today look for a party scene or dating app to meet prospective partners. The environment that these give take the edge off meeting them. “They think they need this to meet people, but in reality they aren’t strong willed enough to do something without it,” Swanson stated.

She takes a moment to take a long drink from her coffee cup before continuing. “When they drink, they have an excuse. College kids think it’s their right to drink so it’s something that would be hard to fix.”

Swanson has a good point and the research backs it up. According to a statistic given by Forbes Magazine, 93% of communication is picked up nonverbally when speaking to someone. Things such as body language, inflection, and vocal tone are all signs and signals of how a person is feeling. When students are spending the majority of their time communicating through text messaging, Facebook, and Twitter, how would they be able to practice understanding these signals?

What’s worse is the content that many social media sites hold within. According to Covenant Eyes, an Internet privacy site, 63% of men 18 to 30 say they watch pornography several times a week, while 76% of women in the same age range say they watch it at least once a month. The fact that Millennials have such easy and quick access to material such as pornographic content may be a factor that is causing change in the dating culture.

Rev. Kathy Martin, an Ordained Minister for the United Methodist Church and current campus minister, had some words concerning the use of social media for this purpose.

“Anything electronic is retrievable. There’s a critical thinking component that college tries to teach you because we don’t all come with that ability. Participating in this kind of stuff can really cause you some problems down the road,” Martin stresses. Students are doing this because it’s easy and doesn’t come with long-term results.

Hook up apps on Smart Phones make this situation more difficult. The ability to send graphic content through these apps and to meet up with unknown people is easy. Martin saw these as a threat as well.

“It’s risky. If you participate in this, you have to know from the start that there are certain risks in meeting someone that way. If you have no background in that person, it doesn’t sound safe. Safety is a huge issue in these situations,” said Martin.

Within the last ten years, smart phone apps such as Tinder, Grindr, Hook-Up Now, Zoosk, and hundreds more have been added to app stores. All of these apps are used solely for the purpose of meeting people quickly, and usually for hooking-up. They are free and can be quickly downloaded.

But that isn’t to say that there aren’t benefits to finding a potential match through online dating. Martin believes there is the possibility for a successful relationship if it is used correctly.

“That’s not to say it can’t happen though social media. I did a wedding yesterday that the couple had met through Match.com. They were busy in their careers; they weren’t people that went out to bars; they had not met anyone through their every day traveling. I think some of those relationships are very successful,” Martin added.

One Morningside student, Kris O’Neil, sees the negative impact on campus. “Every time I go out, I feel like there are a lot of f**kboys and girls aren’t always interested, but they like the attention. The guys like the chase and the girls like the attention, and at the end of it all they are afraid of the commitment. There are only a couple people on campus with actual, strong relationships,” Said O’Neil.

Tinder and other quick-meeting dating apps aren’t only lowering dating values, but they are creating a sense of unlimited options for possible mates, a mindset that Swanson sees as a generational problem.

“The problem with our generation is the luxury of choice. That is something that is unique to us. We have all these options available to us. How are we supposed to know what we want, when we are given the world?” Swanson added.

Across the board, students that were interviewed agreed. Oden gave his input on the situation after contemplating his use of hook-up apps. “My options grew a lot when I got to college because I came from a small school. You see people complain because they look for the ‘perfect’ relationships now that they are able to see endless possibilities online.”

Garett Wall, a Morningside Senior, adds to the discussion by saying, “People have sex without being in a relationship in college because they don’t want to commit.”

It seems more options is not always a better thing to college students.

“I look at a guy and he seems cool, but there’s this one thing that I don’t like about him so I’m going to look for another that doesn’t have that quality,” Swanson admits.

Looking Ahead: Where Will We Go?

The fact that social media may have lasting effects on Millenials attending college is startling, yet little action is being done to curb bad habits. In fact, the dating app Tinder is actually doing very well.

A Huffington Post article states that the average Tinder users (who are surmounting over 50 million) are spending 77 minutes a day using the app. This is surprising considering that the initial use of the app (swiping left or right) takes very little time. According to this same article, the typical Instagram user only spends an average of 21 minutes a day using the app.

Interestingly, Martin not only sees the possibility of this problem occurring in young adults, but in a variety of age groups as well. No longer is this a problem for the generation that is native to social media, but for adults who have become tech savvy.

Rev Kathy Martin believes the best answer is to simply stop.

“Turn around and go in another direction,” Martin says with certainty.

I was thinking of taking the story out at the beginning to get to the point faster like you said, but I feel like that would take out some of the ‘feature’ elements to the story. I can see a way to get rid of it all, but I left it in as is.

The beginning of Stylez Major’s album ‘Diary of a Dreamer’ gives it a ‘cheap rap’ feel within the first 10 seconds of the music starting. When his voice comes in, the feeling increases. While it’s evident that some mixing has been done to it, I have a feeling it was done in the basement of his mother’s home.

The album features 15 songs that brings the total time to just under an hour. Most of the songs are similar in style, and two of them give you an extra bang for your buck with a feature artist by the name of Tony Sway. I’ll give it to Mr. Sway, he actually does add value to this album. The quality of his voice and rhythmic articulation tells the listener that he has had some training, or at least has some talent in Rap/R&B. Major on the other hand, seems breathy at times and his rhythm isn’t always spot on.

There are some good stylistic choices in the album. ‘I’m Blessed’ features a more upbeat feel than many of the others, and the lyrics match this tone well. Major’s skills as a rap artist are good to say the least. It’s actually hard to tell that Major is singing the chorus and rapping, because there is such a huge difference in his voice.

“Today’s a good day

To say today was a good day

I’m blessed, I’m thankful, ok

Woke up today, like yea I’m blessed,

really just thankful for my breath

Worries from yesterday yea they left

I feel my best, I feel like yes”

Unfortunately, Major’s choice in vocal quality during the chorus seems yet again to ruin a song that could have worked out well. He takes on an extremely breathy and whiney quality which really takes away from the message he is trying to deliver.

While the mixing really was probably done in the basement of mom’s house, I could only tell in one song where there was an effort to create various levels. ‘Back Around’ features a back and forth sound effect in the beginning of the song that draws your attention to the music itself. There are some base effects in this song that give it an extra oomph! Unfortunately, the mic quality at the end of the song made me cringe.

Overall, I think this album is worth taking a listen to just to appreciate the professionals in this field of music and the dedication it takes to be at the level they are at. Possibly one day Major will be at their level, but there is a lot of room for a lot of improvement. Give him credit, we all start at the bottom and work our way up.

Here he stood in a new place with no resemblance to home. There was an obvious problem at hand, and there wasn’t anything funny about it this time. Jaden Lux, a guy who finds humor in almost any situation, was sick to his stomach. The biggest train station in London, ringing with voices of a thousand people, continued to fill with busy travelers as it reach nearly midnight.

He was lost halfway across the world and completely alone. “What a great way to start off my trip to London,” he thought as he shuffled to a nearby wall attempting to avoid the experienced travelers.

Jaden was determined before this trip that he had to visit London. Time and time again he had heard of how amazing it was. Taking the journey alone was the goal. This would be the first time ever doing something this big alone. What a learning experience it was about to become.

Now without Internet, cell service, friends, and family to guide him along the way, he was reconsidering his decision to come alone.

As the trains continued to screech and shriek underneath his feet, he stepped into a line waiting to use a ticket kiosk. Each line held thirty or more people, all of which seemed to know exactly what to do. Not looking lost was the key to survival for him. If he can pretend he knows what he needs to do, maybe the answers will come.

“Look like a local,” He thought.

It doesn’t take a situation like this to feel completely alone. It doesn’t take physically being lost and alone to feel that. These sensations are something that comes to all people at some point in their life. Ask a college student what they want to do after graduation. The majority is going to feel a little lost.

But for Jaden, this situation was all the more real. Not making a decision in some form or another would certainly mean metaphorical death on his part. The line began to shorten until the screen was staring him in the face. Oddly enough, the reflection of his face, pale and hopeless, was all he could see. A kiosk attendant strode over to him and asked if assistance was needed.

He quickly replied, “Yes, I need help please.”

He was directed to an information desk that was able to find the correct train tickets to buy. Then after some hesitation in finding the correct platform, Jaden was aboard a train bound for Queen’s Road Peckham station.

Many students who study abroad have experienced similar circumstances. While studying abroad, many of the students involved in the Morningside In Italy program found themselves in situations that are similar to this one. Jadyn Mohr, one of the students on the trip, recalled a time when she went through something similar.

“I felt pretty lost when I traveled to Greece. We were supposed to have a flight from Rome to Athens to San Torini. With the wind conditions, our flight was canceled and we were forced to find a new route along with a place to stay. I felt extremely lost but in the end once we figured everything out it turned out as a wonderful trip,” Mohr said.

After the train arrived at the stop, the feeling of being lost sank back in. The archaic streets around the location snaked in multiple directions. Each street was packed with old brick houses that seemed to have been built centuries ago. Only a few street lamps, one here and there, decorated the streets providing little illumination.

The first train station was starting to seem friendlier than the dark paths before him.

The address that he had would lead him to the host home that was giving him a room to stay while in London. Finding the correct street was the issue. After a little hesitation, he found the street that would connect to the final destination. He took a deep breath, looked behind his shoulder, and took a powerful stride into the darkness.

Being lost in a new place brings on a wealth of new challenges. Mohr found her most difficult experience in Amsterdam because of the different signs that they had.

“I got lost numerous times while abroad, but one of my favorites was while in Amsterdam. Most street signs weren’t easily visible and when they were it was impossible to understand. While on a tram I actually tired to exit through the entrance and got yelled at and was forced to ride the tram to the next stop and got off there and had to find my way back to the original stop I wanted,” Mohr recalled.

The street continued to wind back and forth with no real direction. While Jaden was originally headed in one direction, changed into another direction after two blocks. A couple walked quietly on the street in front of him, and as he approached them they nervously looked back to make sure he meant no harm. With their thick British accents clucking back and forth, it became clear that he wasn’t the only one who was scared to walk this street at night.

“According to these directions, I have only a few more blocks,” Jaden thought to himself as he quickly advanced. The numbered streets were getting closer to the desired street number.

Jaden arrived at the cul-de-sac where the host family lived. To his surprise the homes were actually a block of apartments. The next step turned into finding the correct house number to buzz so he would be allowed into the entryway. Nervously checking his paper a third and fourth time, he buzzed house number 657 and waited for a response.

Silence… more silence that seemed like an eternity.

Then finally, “Hello?” answered the intercom with a delightful accent.

“This is Jaden from Airbnb, I’m here to stay in your home for a few days?” he answered as if almost questioning whether he should really be there.

“Of course, come in!” The entryway was filled with a dim light and a bright buzz as the door unlocked for his entry.

Jaden was safe at last, and more than ready for bed. He was welcomed into the home by man a little older than himself just about to eat. The room that was prepared for him seemed like the most inviting room of his entire life.

The feeling of safety is something that is cherished in a time of crisis. For Mohr, this feeling came when she experienced the most liberating event on the trip. The group she was with finally arrived in San Torini and found a hiking trail.

“It was long and a lot harder than I expected, but it was one of the most rewarding and gorgeous experiences I’ve ever had. It was worth all the sweat and sketchy trails and I’m so happy I did it,” Mohr said with a smile.

While Jaden wasn’t fond of the emotions that he had while being lost in London, he found the experience to be illuminating. He just took on the world, by himself, and didn’t have to call anyone he knew to solve the problem. This event could have turned into an ugly one, but it didn’t. Jaden fell to the ground and then rose again stronger than he was before.

Is this not what every petrifying experience in life is? Something that pushes a person beyond the point of comfort, to a place that makes them decide to crumble under the pressure, or push back and become stronger. Jaden may not have traveled the entire world, but he became a successful world traveler that night. Fighting the elements alone in a world that many times can be unforgiving. This is surly something Mr. Lux can carry on throughout his adult life relying on the skills learned whenever a situation like this arises again.

Here he stood in a new place with no resemblance to home. There was an obvious problem at hand, and there wasn’t anything funny about it this time. Jaden Lux, a guy who finds humor in almost any situation, was sick to his stomach. The biggest train station in London, ringing with voices of a thousand people, continued to fill with busy travelers as it reach nearly midnight.

He was lost halfway across the world and completely alone. “What a great way to start off my trip to London,” he thought as he shuffled to a nearby wall attempting to avoid the experienced travelers.

Jaden was determined before this trip that he had to visit London. Time and time again he had heard of how amazing it was. Taking the journey alone was the goal. This would be the first time ever doing something this big alone. What a learning experience it was about to become.

Now without Internet, cell service, friends, and family to guide him along the way, he was reconsidering his decision to come alone.

As the trains continued to screech and shriek underneath his feet, he stepped into a line waiting to use a ticket kiosk. Each line held thirty or more people, all of which seemed to know exactly what to do. Not looking lost was the key to survival for him. If he can pretend he knows what he needs to do, maybe the answers will come.

“Look like a local,” He thought.

It doesn’t take a situation like this to feel completely alone. It doesn’t take physically being lost and alone to feel that. These sensations are something that comes to all people at some point in their life. Ask a college student what they want to do after graduation. The majority is going to feel a little lost.

But for Jaden, this situation was all the more real. Not making a decision in some form or another would certainly mean metaphorical death on his part. The line began to shorten until the screen was staring him in the face. Oddly enough, the reflection of his face, pale and hopeless, was all he could see. A kiosk attendant strode over to him and asked if assistance was needed.

He quickly replied, “Yes, I need help please.”

He was directed to an information desk that was able to find the correct train tickets to buy. Then after some hesitation in finding the correct platform, Jaden was aboard a train bound for Queen’s Road Peckham station.

Here he stood in a new place with no resemblance to home. There was an obvious problem at hand, and there wasn’t anything funny about it this time. Jaden Lux, a guy who finds humor in almost any situation, was sick to his stomach. The biggest train station in London, ringing with voices of a thousand people, continued to fill with busy travelers as it reach nearly midnight.

He was lost halfway across the world and completely alone. “What a great way to start off my trip to London,” he thought as he shuffled to a nearby wall to avoid getting trampled from the experienced travelers.

Jaden was certain that if there was anything that he wanted to accomplish while studying abroad in Italy, it was to take a visit to London to explore the city that he had heard of time and time again. Taking the journey alone was the goal. This would be the first time ever doing something this big alone.

Now without Internet, cell service, friends, and family to guide him along the way, he was maybe beginning to reconsider his decisions.

As the trains continued to screech and shriek underneath his feet, he stepped toward and into a line of people waiting to use a ticket kiosk. This line held thirty or more people, all of which seemed to know exactly what to do. Knowing that looking lost is not the intention, Jaden jumped aboard the knowledge express.